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GERRY MODDEJONGE, QMI Agency

Jul 14, 2012

, Last Updated: 10:46 PM ET

EDMONTON - Clint Kent didn’t waste any time showing the Winnipeg Blue Bombers they made a mistake releasing him in the preseason.

The Edmonton Eskimos linebacker knocked down a ball to end Winnipeg’s initial series before scooping up a fumble by punt returner Demond Washington on Edmonton’s opening drive, paving the way to a 42-10 win.

“Yeah, it was a big game for me,” Kent said, downplaying any emotions he may have felt facing his former teammates, who voted him a defensive captain before his release at the end of training camp. “I just want to go out there and play my game, or whatever.”

His response was as nonchalant as the way he picked up the pigskin in stride on the way to a 29-yard touchdown return to put his Eskimos on the board, 7-0, 7:40 into the game for a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“I was the contain to the field and he tried to get outside me. I just kept stretching the play out and one of my teammates came and knocked it out,” Kent said of defensive end Lee Robinson’s forced fumble. “When I saw the ball on the ground, I just picked it up and ran it in.”

Which is more than he could have asked for after coming to Edmonton to be reunited with Kavis Reed, the Bombers former defensive co-ordinator who is now head coaching the Eskimos.

“We needed to get that kind of momentum right away and for him to do that right away was absolutely huge for our football team,” Reed said.

Kent now finds himself playing behind linebacker T.J. Hill at the SAM spot.

“Winnipeg was my former team, so I had a big game but the most important thing is that we won,” Kent said. “I just really wanted to have a big game, and I did.

“So mission accomplished.”

Unfortunately, Kent had to take the good with the bad, leaving the game with a leg injury sustained when a Bombers receiver ran into him while standing on the sidelines.

“It happens, I just hate that it had to happen to me,” Kent said. “I’ll be OK.”